The Beauty of the Night
by WolfGirlHowlsAtMoon
Summary: Songfic to Taylor Swifts 'You Belong With Me.' Sam Manson has a secret. She is in love with her best friend but is afraid that is she tells him their friendship will ruined. First fic ever, contains minor spell. errors and an entire tirade in french!


**A/N: Hey guys! This is my first ever fanfic, so don't be to mean to me. I just want some feedback, do I suck? Should I stop writting? Or should I continue in my pursuit to become a power mad authoress one day? Haha, just kidding! This is really exciting and I want you to read my work so lets get to the serious stuff**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Danny Phantom or any of its characters (If I did, then it would not have been canceled after only three seasons). The only thing I own is the plot to the story and I barely own that. Also, I do not own Taylor Swifts _You Belong With Me_.

**Oh, one more thing. I would like to dedicate this story to my cousin, who wanted me to finish this story so badly, so I did it in honor of his grandpa passing away a couple of days ago.**

**Read on you smart cookies!!! :)**  
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_Have you ever had a friend, a best friend, who you have known practically your whole life? A person who is your closest friend and has always been there for you? I have. And he was my first best friend; the only person I could go to when I was feeling misunderstood by the world. I was there for him whenever he was pissed off or just needed someone to talk to, best friends, inseparable, nothing more. As a general rule we had no secrets from each other and I always told him everything. Everything except for the biggest secret of them all; the one that could throw seventeen years of friendship down the drain, and I'm not sure if I will __**ever**__ be able to tell him._

**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - DP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **

The setting sun painted the sky brilliant, fiery shades of red, orange, and yellow, but if you looked closely you could see just the barest hint of a soft pink. The fading light cast long shadows in my room, which spread across my bedroom floor like an ink stain. There was an unbroken peace and tranquility that hung in the air, a blanket covering the town of Amity Park and it left a palpable feel all around us. Danny and I lay on my bed while Tucker lounged in a beanbag chair. None of us was speaking. We all lay motionless, still recovering from our latest ghost fight with Skulker. The robotic ghost seemed to be getting more powerful with every encounter we had with him and had added a plethora of technologically advanced weapons to his already deadly artillery. We were pooped but in that moment I was perfectly content lying next to Danny. Being so close to the boy I loved was bliss inducing. However, the universe hates me and as we all know, bliss doesn't last. Of course the only thing that could possibly go wrong would, I mean it's me, come on. I have about as much luck as a black cat with a spilled bottle of salt. Danny's phone started ringing and his ring tone was basically the story of my life.

_You're on the phone with your girlfriend she's upset she's going off about something that you said, 'cause she doesn't get your humor like I do..._

It was Danny's girlfriend Paulina, the prissy, polished most popular girl at our school and she was pissed. Today Danny had jokingly asked her is she was the "jealous type." She was a possessive little thing, any girl that got within a fifty foot radius of him got the stink eye and a sharp _vete a la chingada. _I sighed and shook my head slowly, wondering why Danny put up with her crap. Sure she was pretty, all the guys thought she was the hottest girl at our school, but that's it. That's all she's got. I let out another frustrated sigh and wished that Danny could see that he belongs with me...

**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - DP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **

Tuesday night found me once again on my bed, this time by myself, doing homework and station surfing on my radio. While I was switching to the station that played all my favorite bands, Soil, Evanescence, Daughtry, I heard a snippet of the newest 'big' Taylor Swift song. An oppressing feeling of comformity washed over me at the thought that a stupid pop/country song described my life so well.

_... I'm in the room it's a typical Tuesday night I'm listening to the kind of music she doesn't like and she'll never, know your story like I do..._

One thing I forgot to mention, Paulina thinks she's dating Phantom, not Fenton. Danny decided that he could use his fame as Danny Phantom to snag the Latina air-head, and it'd worked (as we had all known it would; Paulina had built a shrine to him in her locker). And even though they had been dating for over two months Danny had not yet told her about his secret identity. Paulina was one of the most popular girls at our school, everyone knew everything about her, and she couldn't keep a secret to save her life. She could not be trusted, we Tucker and I had made sure Danny was clear on that point.

While the rest of the traffic sped by below my window, a lone car drove slowly down the street, blaring its radio. Music that was loud and piercing for the world to hear. The words affecting me so much more than they were meant to.

_... But she wears short skirts, I wear T-shirts she's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers, dreaming about the day when you'll wake up and find that what you're looking for has been here the whole time... _

Paulina, stupid little cheerleader slut who only cares about how she looks. She is nothing, has nothing inside, just a shallow pool. She doesn't comfort Danny when he's down, help him when he's hurt, of just listen to him when he's angry. She doesn't understand him at all the way I do. I spend my days and nights agonizingly waiting for him to realize that she doesn't see past her reflection. And when he does, I'll still be here, waiting.

_... If you could see that I'm the one who understands you, been here all along so why can't you see, you belong with me, you belong with me..._

**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - DP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **

_... Walking in the streets with you and your worn out jeans, I can't help thinking this is how it ought to be, laughing on a park bench thinking to myself, hey isn't this easy..._

Danny and I were walking home from school together and he was so close I could feel the warmth radiating from his skin. He was wearing a pair of faded old jeans and a tight fitter v-neck that showed off his well developed muscles. We were walking in an easy silence that neither of us felt the need to fill. Thoughts of him clouded my mind and made me unstable and clumsy. I tripped over my shoe and stumbled right into Danny's hardened chest. I felt his arms tighten around my torso trying to steady me and my face heated up. I looked up at him about how natural it was for him to do that. Easy as breathing.

_... And you've got a smile that could light up this whole town I haven't seen it in a while since she brought you down, you say you're fine I know you better than that, hey what you doing with a girl like that..._

Danny flashed me a broad grin as he caught and steadied me. Suddenly, his grin turned into an unsightly scowl that exaggerated his prominent jaw line, and I turned around to see what had dampened his spirits so quickly. I was surprised she could walk so fast considering she was wearing five inch heels. I glanced down at my own battered black high tops which I had thrown on today in favor of my combat boots; and wondered why she felt the need to wear those death traps. After all, heels are just a male invention designed to make a woman's butt look smaller. They are absolutely discriminative against women, not to mention impractical. On second thought, for Paulina that might be a plus.

_... She wears high heels I wear sneakers, she's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers, dreaming about the day when you'll wake up and find that what you're looking for has been here the whole time..._

"Danny!" she shouted at us. Danny reluctantly released me and stopped to wait for her. I could feel myself growing surlier as the green monster of doom drew nearer. Once again Paulina had managed to infringe upon my moment of closeness with Danny. She'd better watch herself right now, I was unpredictable when I was in these sorts of moods.

"Hey Danny!" she called out when she was almost on top of us, the clacking of her heels slowing substantially. "Sam," she said, shooting a withering look in my direction.

"P-Paulina" Danny stuttered nervously. Probably wondering how she would react to our close proximity moments before; or maybe the fact that we were walking home together in general. Although Paulina did not know that Danny was Phantom, she did think that they were close friends, which in her book made Fenton her property as well. "H-hey Paulina, haven't seen you in a while."

"Not that we were missing you or anything," I muttered, earning a sharp elbow to the ribs.

Paulina's steely eyes flashed but she kept a smile plastered on her face as she chirped "where are you going Danny?" all sweetness and sunshine. It made me want to vomit.

"I was just going home with Sam" he said, clearly still nervous.

"Oh? Mind if I come? We could do our homework together of something. It'll be... fun."

'_Ok did she really just say that?'_ I was surprised there wasn't steam spouting out my ears. How could she blatantly flirt with Danny when she was dating Danny! ... well, technically they were one in the same but she didn't know that so that would mean she was cheating, but whatever, you get my point! "Why would you want to hang out with us when you could be with Danny?" ok honestly how could she not have figured out that Danny is Phantom by now? I saw a bemused smile grace Danny's features at the irony.

_... If you could see that I'm the one who understands you, been here all along so why can't you see, you belong with me, you belong with me..._

"Phantom has more important things to do than be with me all the time, he is a hero you know. Besides, I'm sure he wouldn't mind me spending time with his **friend**." _'Emphasis on the word_ friend' I thought.

"So I guess that means that you haven't talked to phantom for a while huh?" I was being cheeky, we all knew it. I saw an abashed look come over Danny's face at the comment and I smirked to myself. Paulina grimaced.

"I don't have to stand here and explain my relationships with other people to you goth girl," she quipped at me.

'_Ohhhh,_ _big mistake,'_ I thought. "Paulina," I growled through clenched teeth. This bitch was going to get it. I watche as she turned her body in my direction. Good, I had her attention. "I have something to say to you." Her body visibly tensed, which only added to my anger, _wuss_, I thought before belting out my fluent French. "Ta guele! Vous m'embêtez! Vous êtes la personne égoïste, le plus irritant que j'ai jamais rencontré! Vous avez de la chance que je ne bat pas la gueule d'entre vous dès maintenant! Sortir d'ici salope!" I paused to catch my breath. Her face in that moment was priceless, she clearly knew she had been insulted, but she had no idea what I had just said. Hey what do you know, I actually learned something from my French tutor (not exactly what my parents wanted me to though).

Trying to save face, Paulina shrieked "what the hell! Why are you even talking to me?" I nearly choked trying to hold back my laughter and as I looked back at Danny I saw he was doing the same. Paulina glared daggers at us and then snipped, "whatever, later Danny." She then proceeded to flip her hair over her shoulder and stomp back the way she had come. Once she was out of earshot Danny and I looked at each other, and burst into a simultaneous fit of laughter that lasted a full ten minutes and left us both breathless. All the way home, when not breaking into spontaneous bouts of giggles, I was alternating between looking up at his face and down at the ground in front of me.

_...Standing by you waiting at your back door, all this time how could you no know baby, you belong with me, you belong with me..._

**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - DP - - - - - - - - - - - - - -**

Lying back on my bed staring up at my Evanescence poster, the bedside clock read twelve O' one AM. Outside the onyx midnight sky was disturbed only by the muted glow of the streetlamps.

_... Oh I remember you driving to my house in the middle of the night..._

Suddenly I heard the squeal of tires on asphalt turning a corner and the sound of a car zooming up the road. Surprise washed through me when the car cut its engine right below my window and I heard the slamming of a door as the driver got out. Downstairs the doorbell rang. I jumped off my bed and stumbled down the stairs to get the door before my parents woke (they are not a pretty sight at twelve in the morning). The doorbell rang twice more and I grumbled to myself about people being impatient and that they should shove their impatience up their ass. In my hurry to get the door my socks slipped on the hardwood floors and I skidded across the entry room right into the door. I hit it hard with a resounding THWUMP and fell backwards onto the ground.

_... I'm the one who makes you laugh when you know you're about to cry..._

"Sam?" Came a concerned but muffled voice that I knew but my brain was to fuzzy to identify.

"Ungh" I grunted and at that I heard the door swing open, hitting my backside in the process. "Fils de pute!" I exclaimed. Doors were not my friends today.

"Oops, Sorry Sam," said Danny, all apologies. _Wait, Danny?_

"Danny?" I asked.

"H-hey S-sam" he coughed out, stuttering and choking in a failed attempt to hold back laughter at my predicament. "W-why are y-you on th-the floor?" He was barely managing to stand upright and my response sent him over the edge.

"Slid into it" that was it; he doubled over laughing so hard he could barely breathe. "Shut up and help me up _'Inviso-bill.' _My parents are still sleeping." I said, looking up at the ceiling above us.

"Yes ma'am!" he said, still quivering with laughter. Suddenly his arms were beneath me, picking me up like I was five years old again.

"Danny, wha-"

"Shhh" he interrupted me, pointing to the ceiling. I rolled my eyes. He went "ghost" and turned us both intangible, then flew us up through the ceiling. Past my bedroom and landed on the roof. He set me down but he didn't remove one of his arms from around my waist.

"Danny, what are we doing here?" I asked, finishing my earlier question. He said nothing, just sat on the roof staring up at the moon. After a while he began to hum and I caught on to what it was he was singing:

_It's a high school prom, it's a Springsteen song_

_It's a ride in a Chevrolet_

_It's a man on the moon and fireflies in June_

_And kids selling lemonade,_

_Its cities and farms, its open arms_

_One nation under God,_

_It's America_

"Rodney Atkins," I asked him?

He nodded, "yeah, it's my favorite-"

"Your favorite country song I know. You said it's the song you want to listen to when you take off in your first space shuttle for N.A.S.A."

_... And I know your favorite songs and you tell me about your dreams..._

"That's right" he murmured looking over at me, his eyes dancing in the moonlight. I saw something stirring there, in his eyes, something deep and burning with the fire of a thousand suns. "Sam, I-there's something I need to tell you. About why I came here" he clarified. "I just, Sam there's something- uhhg, I don't even think I can explain it right." I looked up at his face and held my breath, searching for some hint, some clue of what he wanted to tell me. Desperately hoping, yet desperately afraid to hope. "It has to do with Paulina."

I felt a familiar surge of anger and hopelessness as he said her name. I knew that his cranky girlfriend was no foog for him, but why would he ever drop her for me?

_... Think I know where you belong, think I know it's with me..._

"Over the past several days I've realized something,"

_... Can't you see that I'm the one who understands you..._

"You've been my best friend for as long as I can remember, and you've always been there for me."

_... Been here all along so why can't you see, you belong with me..._

"Paulina and I, we were over before we even started, I just didn't see that. After I realized that I started wondering, if maybe your feelings for me, might be the same as I've realized that mine are for you. I realized that there had to be a reason you've put up with me, and been there for me all this time. I also realized, that it was never Paulina that I wanted. I used her to full up the space that was left by someone else. Sure she's pretty, and popular, but there is someone else who is a thousand times more beautiful than Paulina, both inside and out. And now, I have to know if she feels the same way.

I was frozen, numb. No words would have come out even if I had known what to say. Did he really mean what I thought he did? I was unsure, more unsure of this than I had ever been of anything in my life. I stared at Danny like a deer in the headlights. He smiled warmly at me, and then I felt something cold yet soft brush gently across my face and rest on my cheek. I closed my eyes and leaned ever so slightly into it.

"Sam," he breathed, and a cold breath gusted over my face. I opened my eyes to find his face mere inches from mine, his ghostly green eyes glowing and looking into me with warmth and caring. Seeing me for me and accepting, embracing. Suddenly, I saw a new light enter his eyes. Determination, and the next few seconds were surreal as he slowly closed the gap between us. He paused in the moment before his lips met mine, and his lips were so close I could virtually feel them on mine. I could taste his breath and feel the coolness that only came from being half ghost.

I was pretty sure that he intended to make our first kiss short and sweet, but like so many other things in my life, it didn't quite go the way it was planned. When his lips finally pressed against mine, something changed. When he kissed me, a volcano erupted, a tidal wave broke along the salty shores of the beach, fireworks exploded in the sky, and yet in a way, it was just me and him in our own little world. My breath came in a wild gasp and his other arm snaked around my waist pulling me closer to him and crushing his lips even harder against mine. It was fiery and passionate, filled with the magic that only comes with a first kiss. My hands reached up towards him and my fingers entangled themselves in his hair. His kisses became deeper and more intense as he gathered me in both arms in an unspoken promise to never let me go. His lips trailed down to my neck and brushed gently against my jaw, sending chills down my spine. Suddenly we resurfaced, gasping for air. He looked me directly in the eye and said "So can I take that as a yes?" I gave him a silly grin and pulled him in for another kiss.

"You can take that as a thousand yeses" I murmured against his lips. Although it was just one moment in time, one insignificant minute in the lives of two unimportant teenagers, it felt like at that moment the entire world had taken time to stop and appreciate the beauty of love, the beauty of the night. We were alone in this night, our night, and no one could bring on the morning until we wanted to. And that might take a while.

_...Standing by you waiting at your back door, all this time how could you not know baby, you belong with me, you belong with me. You belong with me, have you ever thought just maybe, you belong with me, you belong with me..._

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_OOOOOOOO!!! _**Did you love it? Hate it? Click the lovely review button below to lemme know! Note: for the french stuff, i KNOW my grammar is terrible and that I should get a detention for writting such terrible sentences, but, whatever. I had a friend help me write those and we are not the most fluent french speakers ever. Flamers are welcome, so go ahead and lemme know what you think!!! I am really excited so I think I am just gonna go now!!! :)**


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